Electronic commerce that utilizes the Internet to sell goods and services to customers has been increasing in its scope and scale at increasing rates. Merchants and other sellers of goods and services are increasingly in search of new mechanisms of listing their offered goods and services to leverage this growth in electronic commerce.
However, despite this growth in electronic commerce, sellers and buyers have been reluctant when dealing with certain types of products and services because current electronic commerce mechanisms do not accurately reflect non-electronic commerce transaction process. As a result, perceptions exist that sellers do not obtain maximized prices for their products or services and do not have control over the final selling price. In addition, some buyers are not comfortable with current electronic commerce processes, such as online auctions, which do not resemble most non-electronic transaction processes.
Further challenges exist for sellers and buyers working to ensure they maximize their positions in transactions. Current processes only provide sellers with the ability to set terms of sale. Because of a lack of control over transaction terms, some buyers are reluctant to purchase, or even consider, an offered product or service. This reluctance has a constraining effect on electronic commerce.